Octopode crusher

Version 0.17: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

Octopode crusher

Useful Info

Octopode crushers are deadlier than their common octopode brethren, both physically and magically. Along with their proficiency with Earth Magic, they are capable of throwing anything they are currently constricting to a non-adjacent location for 1d64 damage (40% chance of this occurring each turn of constriction). They prefer to throw the player to a location near dangerous monsters or into open space. Octopode crushers can be found in watery portions of the Depths and rarely in vaults occurring in Shoals.

Tips & Tricks

• Getting thrown can change your position dramatically, possibly exposing you to unexplored areas and alerting further monsters. Furthermore, the potential 64 throw damage can leave you in a vulnerable state. You'll always be thrown somewhere that's safe to inhabit and that is currently within your line of sight, so it's a good idea to fall back and melee a crusher from a position where most or all of the locations you can see are free of monsters and not near unexplored areas.
• If your surroundings are very dangerous, try to kill or severely wound them at range. Crushers have only modest durability, and they can only throw you while you're constricted.
• Crushers often carry shields, so they'll occasionally block your targeted, ranged attacks; if you're a caster, it's much more effective to use unavoidable area attacks (eg, Fireball, Freezing Cloud).

History

Prior to 0.15, they had only 14 HD and knew Throw Icicle instead of Iron Shot.

Octopode crushers were added in 0.14.